Does Music Cause Sex?

A recent paper published in Pediatrics described a correlation between teens listening to "vulgar" music and the age they start their sexual lives. The authors concluded that "listening to music with degrading sexual lyrics is related to advances in a range of sexual activities among adolescents, whereas this does not seem to be true of other sexual lyrics. ... Reducing the amount of degrading sexual content in popular music or reducing young people's exposure to music with this type of content could help delay the onset of sexual behavior."

However, the study has spawned acid remarks from other scientists who noted that "correlation is not causation". As Larry Siegel, professor at Umass-Lowell noted: "While it is possible that listening to suggestive music prompts interest in sexual experimentation, it may be more likely that kids who are already interested in sex like to listen to suggestive music!

"Put another way, people planning a trip to Italy will probably buy guide books for Rome and Florence before they begin their journey. Buying the guidebooks did not prompt their trip, their purchase is a byproduct of the decision to travel abroad. The fact that sexually active kids listen to music with a sexual content should not be surprising. Did we expect that they listened to Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah?"

Rajan TD from the CMPH Medical College, Mumbai, India, also noted that "the study simply strings together two groups of data and tries to arrive at a conclusion.

"This study is akin to the study conducted a few decades ago which established a statistical correlation in the aviation industry. It was shown that 82% of the aviation accidents occur while the flight is about to take off or while landing. According to the study the number of mishaps, while the aircraft was cruising in the sky, was minuscule. So, were we to conclude that the only way of minimizing such crashes is to always avoid take offs and landings?

"While undertaking a scientific study the authors ought to have a broad view of the likely end result and its impact on human lives or it will be left for just coffee-table consumption!"

The study seemed to have ignored the process by which some teens get to listen to "bad" music. This doesn't just happen, they choose the music. "Had the researchers randomly allocated explicit or non-explicit music to the subjects, the conclusion might be justified," Bob Lieberman wrote." But the teenagers chose their own music. An equally valid conclusion is that teenagers who are likely to start sex early also tend to choose sexually explicit music."